3: A Final Resting Place

[Year 8 Month 3: Continued]

It was a long three days; that’s how long it took to leave the city I was in. Sure, it was kinda cool to see where I had been moved to several years ago, but instead of a bustling and vibrant city, this one was very much abandoned, and not recently either.

Apparently, the city had been subject to a Vexus wave, which were invaders whose origin no one knows. The Vexus do come in what the locals refer to as Vex Seasons, where every decade or two, there is another wave.

This city had been caught off guard, as this wave was mainly composed of arachnids and the spyiders had the ability to dig under the walls and popup randomly.

When the Broodmother found me and used me as a mana battery, it had apparently been super dangerous for several years, but nothing happened until one rich noble was attacked by a spyider originating from here.

As usual, nothing was fixed unless the rich were in trouble. The city was abandoned for over two years, and in the span of two months after the incident, the issue was solved.

This group was apparently a crew of adventurers who worked similarly to how mercenaries did. They would take a ‘quest’ and, if they survived, receive payment.

While the party had lost a few members, the overall losses were apparently well within the acceptable numbers for such an operation. I don’t know why, but something about ‘acceptable deaths’ made me feel wrong.

We probably could have been out of the city within the same day, but the party wanted to be thorough and make sure all Vexus were purged; if even one was left, another infestation could occur, and the whole reason they were here was to make the region livable again.

Anyways, that all took a few days, and over the course, I eventually ended up blessing all 26 people in the party (excluding the leader, who I had already blessed), slightly boosting their power and once again returning me to a three-digit number of Blessed.

[You have 122 Blessed]

While I was happy that the number was back up to semi-respectable numbers, I was still excited for what it would be like when I reached higher numbers. The increase was small, but even small numbers can add up to quite a bit.

[+12.2% Mana Regeneration and Resistance]

Satisfied, I closed the screens and continued to enjoy my surroundings and the quiet chatter of the party.

I had noticed the party leader (who I learned is called Gadric) shooting some glances at me, some in curiosity, and others in suspicion, but frankly, I had always kinda stuck to myself. On top of the whole “Blessed Stones aren’t sapient” notion I got going for me, I decided that I wouldn’t attempt to speak unless someone did the same to me.

I think he has some skill that lets him know when others are watching him, as he seems to be aware of someone’s attention whenever I focus on him. It doesn’t seem to activate if I am not intentionally watching him, so that is something to be aware of. No observing at night. Which, now that I think of it, doesn’t sound too good anyway.

Apparently, this journey back to civilization was going to take several months, with only a few villages being this far out into what they called The Wilds. A region that was… well… wild. There are a few reasons for this, but the main being the mana density. In areas with much higher mana, it could support higher-level animals and beasts.

The Vexus were the anomaly, with the different types being solidly consistent in level. With the Broodmothers being level 30 through 50, and the spyiders being 10 through 15. This wave was a new one, so there wasn’t as much known about them.

Is being able to take out so many spyiders and a broodmother mean that this party is a pretty high level? I wonder what level Gadric is?

Unfortunately, the adventurers didn’t really talk about what was “the norm” as everyone already knew them, and didn’t need to elaborate further.

In a way, it felt like I was hearing one half of the conversation, missing some critical context and information. Sucks to be me. I mean, I could try and ask them, but at this point, I’m not sure if they would try to break me. It’s possible they think I would be corrupted. What other reason would there be for a sapient rock?

While I hoped they wouldn’t do such a thing, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks. For now. I would wait.

[Year 8 Month 4: 1 month has passed]

Over the course of the month, we passed through two villages on our little journey. They were little more than a small collection of huts surrounded by a short fence that a child could slip through or just climb over.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

We only stopped at these places for a few hours. Only halting to give the village protectors my [Blessing of Ward], increasing my total Blessed by 23. Unfortunately for the adventurers. We couldn’t restock food by buying from the village, as such small communities barely produced enough to break even, and rarely had enough food for the winter.

Speaking of winter, it was approaching quickly.

While I couldn’t ‘feel’ the temperature, I did notice something interesting. My ability [Ambient Mind] had a hidden perk that let me see the ambient mana. While I probably would have noticed this at the cathedral, I remember that one of the party’s scouts had said the ambient mana was corrupted, so maybe that’s why I didn’t notice.